IT was nice to see Mr Bell's positive comments about our surgery (Messenger, January 5). We're always grateful when patients take the time to feed back their experience of using our services. We felt however that one of the comments from Mr Bell should be clarified.

2015 sadly saw the closure of the Norris Road Surgery. Patients who had been registered with this surgery were able to register with the surrounding practices of which Washway Road Medical Centre took a geographically small share. All Sale practices felt the additional pressure on already stretched services, despite the support of Trafford CCG and NHS England who tried to make the transfer of Norris Road patients as manageable as possible.

We're sure Trafford residents have noted the impact of an increasing and complex workload in General Practice over the past few years. Expectation and demands on GP services along with hospitals, community and social care is proving very challenging. Trafford is working hard to move forward with plans to provide services at a greater scale; in Sale, we are working closely with our colleagues in other practices and hope that further collaboration will result in a more resilient and stable structure for the future so we can continue to provide the highest quality of care to all our patients.

The Partners Washway Road Medical Centre